303 SHORT NOTES AND QUKKIKS.
seen in Motwtropa, its parasitism must remain a tlieory only, and not an observed fact. On the other hand, with the strong presumption of its partisitism which the hal)it and appearance of the plant warrant, Professor Babington's statement (' Manual,' 61h ed. p. 220), "not parasitical," seems to require something more to siipport it than the negative evidence hitherto adduced. Successful cultivation of Moiiotrupa as a non-parasiti- cal phmt would be perhaps as nearly positive evidence as the nature of the case would admit of, but as far as records go, this has not been done.* Has Neottia Nidus-atis, to which Monolrupa has much likeness, been cnltivated r
Whether the apparent radicular fibres of Monotropa are fungi or not, is a question which 1 caunot enter upon fidly, but it may be observed that of the four "byssoid fungi " described by Mr. llylands, only one is stated to be found " on Monotropa root generally," each of the other three being allocated to T^\a.\iis,oi Monotropa found in diH'erent places. Also that it is only the former one that is said to possess the colour which seems to be the common characteristic of the fibre — " brown ;" the others being re- spectively described as " colourless," " peliucid white," and " pellucid straw-colour." Is it probable that a plant whose roots were so entirely covered with a fungus could exist, or at least flourish and propagate ?
[Mr. Stratton's experience is that of all botanists who have investi- gated the question. Unger, Graves, Du Ciiartre, Guillard, Schacht, and Chatin have all failed to detect the slightest organic connection between adult Monotropa and the roots of any otiier plant. Chatin, however, in his beautiful ' Anatomic Coniparee des Vegetaux," has described and figured (' Piantes Parasites,' p. 257 and t. 52) a young individual attached to a ligneous root by a true perforating vascular cone, exactly as in Oro- banclie, and he suggests that, at least when reproduced by germination, Monotropa may commence life as a parasite. Unger (Ann. d. Wien. Mus. Bd. 2) thought that the plant lived ou substances exuded by the roots amongst which it grows and with which its own are so intimately inter- laced. Many botanists consider Monotropa a parasite in the sense of living on dead or decomposed vegetable matter, like Fungi. The subject cannot be considered settled. — H. T.]
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A New Genus of GEKTiAN.\CF.iE. — In vol. xxxix. of the 'Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,' Mr. S. Kurz has published a full de- scription, Avith plate, of the plant from Western Thibet, which i)e shortly defined in this Journal (Vol. V. }). 241), under the name of Gentiana JcESchkei (by accident spelt IWschkei). Mr. Kurz had originally con- sidered it to form a new genus, but Professor Grisebach, to whom frag- ments Avere submitted (see note to the description I.e.'), placed it in the Anutrdla section of Gentiana. Further examination has confirmed Mr. Kurz in his own opinion, and he now describes the genus Jceschkea, the species being renamed /. (jeutianoides. The chief character is found in the position of the filaments which are " actually terminal between the
- M. tniifora, L., a N. American species, has been cnltivated in the botanic
garden of Glasgow in leaf-mould, according to Sir W. Hooker, quoted by Chatin. (II. T.)
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